Harry Lauder's walking stick tree pest

The wife got a walking stick tree and when the leaves came about this spring, they slowly curled up. When we opened them up, we found silk holding them together and little green worms with brown heads inside. We have watched the wasps try to get them and they can't. We have sprayed with water (higher pressure stream) to remove them and when new leaves sprout, again, the cycle starts all over again. From what I can figure out, these worms are moth related. We do have the tree in a shady spot and a neighbour (also facing north) has theirs (two trees) in the sun and have no apparent worm problem. Would it be safe to say that moving the tree into the sun would essentially eliminate the worms and future worm infestations? The tree is bare at this point and I fear damage to the tree. Any help is greatly appreciated. Cheers!

 

I feel that your problem is not related to how much or how little in your case sun it is getting. Depending on how big it is, if possible it wouldn't hurt to move it to a sunnier location (not now though). How many hours of sun does it get, morning or afternoon?

As far the your caterpillar problem there are many products you could use I would try BT - a great product for caterpillars.

 

I've included some photos of the tree. It is a relatively small tree about 4 feet tall and about 3 feet wide. Most of the leaves are dead now and I'm curious about long term damage. I've included the images of the worm and the cocoon. As for total sunlight exposure, we are looking at maybe an hour at best in the late evening. For the most part, it is in the shadow of the house and doesn't see much sun.